Type-cleaning attachment for writing-machines



(N0 Mddel.)

W. B. NORTHROP.

TYPE CLEANING ATTACHMENT FOR WRITING MAGHINES. No. 425,387 Patented Apr. 8, 1890'.

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, UNITED Y STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VILLlAld B. NORTl-IR'OP, OF CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA.

TYPE-CLEANING ATTACHMENT FOR WRITING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 425,387, dated April 8, 1890.

Application filed June 11, 1889. Serial No. 313,834. (No model.)

To (l/ZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM B. NORTHROP, of Charleston, in the county of Charleston and State of South Carolina, have invented a new and Improved Type-Cleaning Attachment for \Vriting-Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to a device providing for quickly and easily cleaning the faces of the types used in writing-machines, and has for its object to provide a simple, inexpensive, and efficient device of this character.

The invention consists in the type-cleaning device, preferably a brush, held to the papercarriage and adapted for contact with the faces of the type, all as hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a partof this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure lis a bottom face view of the papercarriage of a Remington type-writer swung upward and partly broken away and with my improved type-cleaning device applied thereto. Fig. 2 is an end view of the carriage and adjacent parts of the type-writer with the cleaning attachment. Fig. 3 is a detail front sectional view of one end of the paper-carriage and type-cleaning attachment, and Fig. 4 is a top perspective view of the type-cleaning attachment removed from the papercarriage.

I will particularly describe the invention with reference to the drawings, which illustrates one practiced form of the type-cleaning attachment and the manner of holding it detaehably to the paper-carriage Oif a typewriting machine, the one shown in part being the Remington machine; but it will be understood that the improvement is applicable to any type-writer using a traversing or hinged paper-carriage having an impression roller or platen.

Referring more particularly to Fig. a of the drawings, it will be seen that in making the type cleaning attach men t, I use a thin metal holder A, which has a main horizontal portion or plate a and upbent end parts a a, the latter, or it may be the whole plate, being somewhat elastic, by preference, to allow the attachment to be readily fitted onto th paper-carriage of the type-writer, as presently explained. The holder-plate a, which is about as long as the paper-carriage, is provided with a pair of downbent flanges or lips I) b, which are bent inward to form with the plate adovetailed recess, into which the back of the type-cleaning brush B fits snugly, and from which the brush may be pushed endwise to remove it for repairs or renewal, as occasion requires. The' ends a a of the holder A are provided with outbent flanges a a which overlie the top of the paper-carriage frame, while a couple of springs a a punched or pressed out from the metal, underlie the carriage-frame.

In applying the type-cleaning attachment to the paper-carriage C the end parts a a of the brush-holder A will he slipped upward from the under side of the carriage and between its end bars c c and the ends of the impression-roller D on the carriage until the flanges a spring outward above the end bars 0 of the carriage-frame and the springs a underlie the end bars. The ends a of the holder A and their flanges a are cut away at the center to fit around the journals of the impression-roller, and thus prevent movement of the attachment A B toward the front or rear of the paper-carriage, while the end lock of the holder with the carriage causes the type-cleaning attachment to travel laterally with the carriage.

It is obvious that as the type-writer bars or levers E are actuated from the keys of the machine the faces of the type c on the bars will be brought in contact with the brush B and will be thoroughly cleaned, and as the keys of the type-writer are pressed down the carriage C will be fed along laterally, as when printing or writing, thus bringing another portion of the brush into position to receive the impact of a type-character each time any type-key is depressed. When the attachment is used on a machine in which an inking-ribbon is used, the ribbon will be removed or shifted to one side of the point of impression of the type on the brush. The brush will be wide enough to accommodate the characters brought to the point of contact with it, or as wide as the two characters on each type-bar of the Remington machine, and thus will also accommodate the single characters on the type-bar of the caligraph or the Yost writing-machine.

My invention is manifestly applicable to type-wheel machines as well as type-bar machines, the only requirement being that the brush be made wide enough to accommodate the characters on the type-Wheels, which will strike the brush held to the paper-carriage in substantially the manner above described; and in machines where the paper-carriage swings over to the type the type-cleaning device will, when attached to the carriage as effectively clean the type as when the type are pressed to the brush by bars, levers, or wheels to which they are held.

I am not limited to using a brush as a medium by which to clean the type-faces; but a brush is at'present thought to be most practicable, and therefore is preferred. The brush material may consist of bristles or hairs or wires, as may be deemed mostsuitable for action on the faces of type made of any particular material.

By my improvements I adapt the typecleaning brush or device to be instantly slipped into or out of supporting connection with the paper-carriage to apply the cleaner to or remove it from the carriage, said typecleaning brush or device being independent of the impression-roller in order that in applying the type-cleaning brush or device to or removing it from the carriage it will not interfere withthe paper which may be in position on the impression-roller or impede the free operation of the impression-roller. Thus it will be seen that while matter is being printed, if it be found that certain of the printing-characters have become blurred and need cleaning, the brush can be instantly applied to the carriage without removal of or interfering with the paper imposition, and, further, that while the brush is in position the roller may freely be manipulated.

It will be seen that by making the extremities of the type-cleaning device integral with said device and of springy or elastic .material they are adapted to bend or yield so as to lessen the distance in a straight line between them in applying it to and removing it from the paper-carriage of any type-writer with which it may be used.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is l A type-cleaning device for type -writing machines having integral with it springy or yielding supporting-arms, one bent from each of its opposite extremities, said arms constructed to yield toward each other to lessen the distance in a straight line between them in applying the device to or removing it from the paper-carriage, substantially as set forth.

WILLIAM B. NORTHROP. lVitnesses:

HENRY L. GooDwIN, C. SEDGWICK. 

